Q. Your book focuses on individuals and families held under the Alien Enemies Act. What were the numbers involved?

During the whole course of [World War II], the US government interned 31,275 alien enemies. Of these there were 16,849 Japanese, 10,905 Germans, and 3,278 Italians. When you’re talking about the alien enemy program the numbers of Japanese and German were pretty close.

Q: Why were these families targeted?

The FBI started by considering people’s occupations. Engineers were targeted because the government thought that people who knew how to build bridges and buildings would know how to blow them up. They [also] relied on the word of anonymous accusers.

The third way they did it, was if you belonged to any German clubs – and many first-generation families did – you were suspect.

Q: Were any charged with a crime?

You didn’t have to commit any crime. The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 says that if you are a citizen of a country we are at war with, then you are an enemy. That is the very same act that both Presidents [George W.] Bush and Obama used to [detain prisoners at Guantánamo Bay].
None of the alien enemy fathers were ever charged with any crime. They couldn’t hire a lawyer. They had about a 15-minute hearing before a small group of civilians and then, based on what the FBI said, they were interned and they couldn’t do anything about it.

To the government it wasn’t personal. But to the people whose lives were literally smashed, it was extremely personal.